Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

I’ve got some thread wound around my forelegs. It stretches when I pull them apart, and snaps back together when I relax. Awesome. It’s stretchy like rubber, just as I was hoping.

What am I doing? Glad you asked. Ever since I found out that my [Spider Thread] has a skill associated with it, I’ve been trying various experiments to raise my proficiency. Until now, I haven’t really been trying to use my threads for anything but building webs and tying up my prey, so I truly had no idea what these were capable of.

Hm? What happened to going outside and leveling up, you say? Haha, as if. I may have gotten a little bit excited immediately after I leveled up, but after I calmed down I realized how foolish it was. Think about it: I’m a girl who’s only good at video games. Do you seriously think I’d be good in a real fight? As if. I might have a monster’s body, but I still barely know how to move it.

There’s a world of difference between playing a game and actually moving my body. For starters, a game character doesn’t get tired, while a real body runs out of stamina if you move too much. Back on Earth, for instance, I was a very frail girl who got tired just walking to and from school. If I had to fight a monster with real, natural-born monster instincts, I think it would be very difficult for me to win, wouldn’t it?

Therefore, my current plan of letting prey get stuck in my webs has a much higher chance of success. Compared to aimlessly wandering around the dungeon, this is not only safer but far more efficient as well. I’m sure there may come a time where I have to leave my home, but I first want to get my level up a bit until I have a much bigger margin of error. I may have played an absurdly specialized character in that MMO, but in other RPGs, I usually prefer to do a bunch of early grinding to get my levels up. That way, I can just steamroll every boss in my way while I whistle a jaunty tune. Now that it’s my own, precious life, I’d much rather play it safe until I think I’m strong enough to beat everything easily.

So, as part of my plan to safely get my level up, I’m trying to raise the level of my [Spider Thread] skill. My thread is my lifeline, right? If I hadn’t made my home, I’d still be lost wandering around the dungeon. The thought sends shivers down my spine. I wouldn’t have been able to survive like that, would I? I wouldn’t have any safe place to rest, nor would I be able to catch any prey. I owe this pleasant lifestyle entirely to my wonderful silk.

Thus, I think leveling up my thread is my best course of action. I don’t know how it might change as I gain more levels, but I can’t think of any downsides. Just spinning more thread didn’t seem to raise my skill at all, so I’ve been trying various experiments to see what its properties are. I’ve tried to see if I have any control over its various properties, like its thickness, adhesiveness, strength, and elasticity.

Controlling the thickness was extremely simple: if I think about spinning thin thread, thin thread comes out. I can’t make it so fine you can’t see it, but I can make it about the thickness of a human hair. In the dim light of the dungeon, such a thin thread should be almost impossible to see. I did a little test on its strength, and as expected it gets a lot less resilient as it gets thinner. Ah, well, it can’t be helped. It’s only natural that a thin thread would be more fragile than a thick one. Hopefully, when my skill level goes up, the threads will get stronger.

Conversely, making the thread thicker makes it way stronger. The thickest thread I can produce is nearly two centimeters in diameter. It’s almost like a rope, isn’t it? Well, two centimeters is about all I can produce under normal circumstances, but if I braid a bunch of it together I can get a much thicker cord. That takes time, though.

My adhesion experiments went… poorly. It’s true that there are both sticky and non-sticky kinds of spider thread, but the real reason why spiders don’t get stuck in it is because they know what they’re doing. I can move around my webs just fine on instinct, but when I tried to figure things out manually, I somehow managed to tie my entire body up. Ahhhhh, yeah. It’s only natural that things would get tangled up when trying to learn how to use different kinds of thread, but it’s my own stupidity that got me tied up.

Ahh, I was too impatient. I hadn’t yet noticed that I could reduce the stickiness of my threads after I spun them, and I almost died thanks to getting caught in my own trap. That would have been way, way, way too dumb of a way to go out. Thanks to a stroke of divine inspiration, I realized that, as long as the thread’s still attached to my butt, I can change its properties. After I disentangled myself, I tested to see if I could change the properties of a thread after I’d cut it, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case.

After I pulled myself together, I experimented with the thread’s strength. While I did confirm that thin threads are weak and thick threads are strong, I have no idea what the maximum strength of these threads actually are. How could this be, you ask? When I crank the strength up to the max, I’m completely and utterly incapable of breaking it with my own strength. Even scarier, I can’t slice or bite through it. Anything that gets caught up in this thread will probably be stuck there forever. Ah, well, there might be monsters that are strong enough to tear through it, so I shouldn’t be too overconfident.

Last but not least, the results of my elasticity test: this stretchy, bouncy thread that I’ve got wrapped around my forelegs. Yeah. This rubbery thread is going to be super useful. If I could find suitable rocks to attach to it, I could make a simple slingshot, and I’m sure I’ll come up with many other uses for it.

I’m quite satisfied with my experimental results. However, even after all that, my skill level didn’t go up at all. Plus, I found out about a huge issue with my silk-spinning that I can’t ignore: making these threads consumes my energy like mad. As a result, even though it’s been barely any time since I killed that frog, I’m already exceedingly hungry. It’s not like my fuel efficiency is terrible, but if I’m going to be spinning such large quantities of thread in the future, I’m definitely going to need to eat a bigger lunch first.

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

It had been an extremely ordinary day. All I expected to do was go to school, hang out with my friends, go home, play some games, take a bath, and go to sleep. That, at least, was how it was supposed to go.

I walked to school, rubbing sleep out of my eyes. I stayed up way too late last night playing an MMO, and I was paying the price this morning. I had somehow managed to get into a party with Baldy, and I completely lost track of time as we farmed dungeon after dungeon.

Baldy, by the way, was a kind of famous character in the MMO that I played. He was a quiet, older gentleman with a bald head who pushed the limits of what can be accomplished as a free-to-play character. He completely ignored status and romance, focusing instead on raising his physical ability to its extreme. He was a ridiculously amazing player, too, able to dance around the front lines of a battle without breaking a sweat. On top of that, he barely ever said a word in chat. His quiet, almost manly playstyle made him very popular with other players. I finally managed to get into a party with him, so it was only natural that I got a little too excited and stayed up way too late.

I arrive at school, stifling a yawn as I enter the classroom.

“Hey,” says my classmate Kyouya as I get to my desk.

“Oh, hey,” I reply.

“Yo!” says Kanata, “Whoa, what’s up? You look awful.”

Kyouya Sasajima and Kanata Ooshima were two of my classmates. We played a bunch of the same MMOs, so we were pretty good friends.

“Oh, yeah, check this out. Last night I got into a party with Baldy.”

“Whoa, seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously,” I reply. “I stayed up waaay too late playing with him.”

“Wow, I’m jealous. That was after I quit?” asked Kanata. We’d been playing together, but he had to go to bed and logged out well before I did. “Fuck, if I knew that was going to happen I would have stayed on a little longer.”

Kanata seemed really upset with himself, but in truth we never would have seen Baldy without him. We needed another person to fill the slot Kanata had left, and Baldy answered our messages in LFG.

“So, you really saw Baldy, huh? What’s he like?” asked Kyouya.

Memories of Baldy’s gallant figure flashed through my mind. “That man cannot be human,” I said. “Can you believe that he was able to advance while completely dodging the Bezebel Witch’s spells?”

The Bezebel Witch was a particularly nasty boss found in high-level dungeons. She was known for firing out a ludicrous barrage of magic attacks. The forums keep calling it a bullet hell. The worst part about this boss is that she never stopped firing. Attackers would be hit by wave after unceasing wave of magic blasts. Ordinarily, what you would try to do is either massively buff your magic resistance and try to whittle her down via suicide attacks, or set up a super-defensive front-line and fire equally large swarms of magic back at her.

Baldy, on the other hand, dodged every blast, got close, and killed her with melee damage. This was completely and utterly unexpected. My mouth actually hung open as I watched him go.

“Wow, that’s Baldy for you. I guess that’s why people call him Idaten(TL.1),” said Kyouya.

“Man, you have to have serious skill to pull off a crazy stunt like that,” said Kanata, tapping his arm. Certainly, I know that if I had the same stats and gear that Baldy had, I wouldn’t be able to do anything like that. “Man, I want to get better!”

“Want to grind out a few more levels after school?” I ask.

“Yeah, definitely!”

“Me too. Let’s find a particularly nasty place and train a bunch.”

“Hm?” I said as I rummaged around in my bag, trying to find my pencil case. I realized, a bit too late, that I had taken it out so that I could write down a few notes as I was playing last night and never put it back. “Ah, crap…”

“What’s wrong?” asked Yuika Hasebe, who was sitting next to me in class.

“I forgot my pencil!”

“Oh no, sorry to hear that. Would you like to borrow mine?” she asked, holding up a spare mechanical pencil.

I took it, gladly. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“You owe me one!”

“Haha, okay,” I said, smiling wryly.

That promise was not one I would be able to keep.

It happened in the middle of literature class, while I was fighting valiantly against falling asleep. Our very short teacher, who we affectionately called Oka-chan, was standing at the front of the class, textbook in one hand, reciting some sort of classical poem. Most of the class was reading along in their own textbooks.

In an effort to stay awake, I forced myself to look up. In the row in front of me, I saw Rihoko(TL.2), another one of my classmates. Rihoko wasn’t her real name, but she looked like a horror so we abbreviated that–Real Horror Child, Rihoko for short(TL.3). She was extremely gaunt, deathly pale, always wore a gloomy expression, and was generally a creepy sort of girl. I felt bad thinking about her like that, but there wasn’t really any polite way to put it. As if she was mocking my efforts to stay awake, Rihoko was fast asleep at her desk. I made myself look away.

That’s when it happened.

It was kind of like a fissure, floating in the empty air in the middle of the classroom, that nobody seemed to have noticed but me. It was hard to describe it as anything else but a crack in space. It was growing, too, and looked like it was going to split open at any moment. I saw it spreading through the air above me, but couldn’t do anything but stare blankly at it. Even if I had reacted differently, I don’t think there’s anything I could have done about what happened next.

In an instant, the space around us shattered in a blast of glorious light, and I was enveloped by blinding pain. That’s when I — no, we — died.

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

While I was lazing about in my home(TL.1), my threads started to vibrate. It looks like I’ve caught my second victim! Good timing, too, I was just starting to get hungry. I approach my prey with a skip in my step. …Honestly, though, a skipping spider is a little bit too surreal.

Last time, I was a little too careless and walked straight into my opponent’s counterattack. This time, I approach much more cautiously. Now then, what do we have here?

{Elroe Frog}

Oh, my stars and garters! Ain’t this another frog? How in the heck’d this happen?! Ain’t there a right pile of other monsters in this here dungeon?! Why’d I get the lousy luck of seeing this sucker twice?!

Haah, haah, hah. I dropped into my fake Southern accent, didn’t I. Seriously, why’d th…

Splash!

NOOOOOOOOOO!

While I was busy doing my one-man standup routine the frog spewed acid on me. I can’t believe it took me two lives to figure this out: I am a huge idiot!

Ahh, yeah, the pain helped me calm down a little bit. This time, my [Acid Resistance] level didn’t go up, so I guess my skill proficiency wasn’t raised enough. Well, that’s okay for now.

I wrap the helpless frog up in my silk until it can’t move an inch, and bite it. Crunch. Just like last time, this frog doesn’t die from one bite; perhaps they have poison resistance. Even still, the frog grows weaker as it struggles against its bonds. I quickly drag it into my home, then spend some time fixing my broken webs.

All right, all done here. I turn my attention back to the frog as it rolls around helplessly on the floor. Looks like one bite isn’t going to cut it.

Crunch!

I bite it again. Last time I wound up biting the frog over and over, but if you think about it that’s probably not necessary. My fangs are coated in venom, so biting it a couple times and letting my venom do the work is just fine.

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Poison Fang – LV1] has become [Poison Fang – LV2]>

Oh! A skill leveled up! And it’s one I’ve never seen before, too. The frog stopped moving almost immediately after my skill leveled, which was a little bit surprising. Ah, but this makes sense: if my [Poison Fang] skill increased, then my poison must have gotten stronger as well. That’s very nice!

<Experience has reached the required level. Individual Small Lesser Taratect has increased from LV1 to LV2.>

Hm?

Hmmmmm?

Ah! Something feels weird!

Uh?! What’s this?! My skin is peeling off! Am I molting? I’m molting!

<All basic attributes have increased.>

<Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired.>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Poison Resistance – LV2] has become [Poison Resistance – LV3].>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Spider Thread – LV3] has become [Spider Thread – LV4].>

<Skill points acquired.>

Mmmm! No! W, wait up! That sounded really important! I was busy, and you were mumbling at me when I wasn’t paying attention! Please, say it again! One more time!

Silence.

Oof. Seriously? Ah, no, no, let’s keep calm and try to remember. She said “level up,” right? I wasn’t hearing things? Aaah, I really wasn’t paying attention, since I was unexpectedly shedding all of my skin at the time! No, wait, now that I think about it, isn’t spontaneously molting kind of unusual to begin with? I wonder if this is an effect of leveling up. Did my body change at all?

For now, let’s get the rest of this dead skin off of me. Whoa, check out this huge wound that was on my back! That must be from when I got hit by that frog’s acid earlier. I couldn’t see it at the time, but this looks really serious. Hm? Now that I’m thinking about being able to see things, it looks like that hole in my field of vision got repaired! Ohhh! I must get fully healed when I level up!

Yep. This is, without a doubt, leveling up. I feel so light and refreshed, like everything is in perfect harmony. This must have been caused by gaining experience after killing the frog, yeah? Ah, right, the frog, I should be eating. Multitasking, right.

Okay, so, let’s try to remember everything, in order. The first line was definitely about my level going up. I started to molt immediately after that, so I really wasn’t paying that much attention while the “Voice of Heaven” kept mumbling. Remember, remember… ah! Skills! There was something about my skills going up, right? Not just once, but two at a time right? …what’s up with that?

Oh! Right! There was something right before the skills. Something about… bonus proficiencies? Ah! Right! Bonus proficiencies from leveling up, or basically bonus points that I get for free whenever I level! That would explain why two skills leveled up simultaneously.

The skills that went up were, hm…

and… [Spider Thread]? Hmm, even my silk is from a skill, huh…? I only really found out about it when I leveled, though. Hmm, if I just keep spinning thread, this is going to be super easy to level up. This is great information!

Also, when I leveled, I was fully healed. It feels kind of like my stats have gone up too. But the most important thing is that I get bonus skill proficiency when I level! I don’t know how much I get, but since I got ranks in two different skills at the same time, it’s probably a pretty decent amount, right? Looks like getting levels is a pretty efficient way of getting skill ranks as well.

Levels, though. I was kind of hoping that they existed since I found out about skills, but they seriously exist! This world really is like a game, though I try not to treat it as such. Living my life as if I were in a game is kind of a scary concept, you know? It might be a bit too late, though. I can’t help but already be a little bit excited about all of this. After all, I’m a gamer down to my core.

Umf. Let’s forget about skill points for now, since there’s really no point in me worrying if I can get more of them.

[Acid Resistance], huh. I got that through an entirely different method than when I picked up [Appraisal]. [Acid Resistance] does what it says: it makes me more resilient to acid. I got it when that annoying frog shot his acid spit all over me.

That saliva attack was probably both acid-type and poison-type. When I got hit by it, I took acid damage, which led to automatically acquiring the [Acid Resistance] skill. Was it because I took damage in general, or was it because it had an “acid” attribute? I also can’t tell if it’s because I took a certain amount of damage, or because I kept taking acid damage, or even if it was just a certain amount of time after I took the first attack.

Well, what’s important here is that once I take damage of a particular type, I start to gain resistance to it. It might sting for a bit, but if I can endure it, I’ll get a new skill out of it. If I took a fire attack, I’d get [fire resistance], right? When I’m thinking about my defense strategies, I should make sure I think about acquiring new resistances. If I see a new attack that doesn’t look like it will straight-up kill me, should I let myself get hit by it? Hmm, no, getting hurt sucks, and there’s no guarantee I’ll gain a new resistance after just one attack. Ah, it’s not just because I don’t like pain: it’s always better not to take any unnecessary risks.

I got [Acid Resistance] when I got hit by that frog’s attack, but my [Poison Resistance] leveled up as well. If what the, uh, “Voice of Heaven” said was true, then I had [Poison Resistance] from the start. Well, that makes sense: I’m a spider, and I use poison, so of course I should have resistance. Do I have any other natural skills like that? I don’t think I have any way to check! If the “Voice of Heaven” hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t even know that I have [Poison Resistance] to begin with! There’s probably loads of other spider skills that I don’t know that I have.

Ahh, this is a mystery… what else could I have? I might have some sort of “Poison Strike” skill. It would be great if I could know for sure, but, y’know, I have no way to check.

Just to test, I whisper “Character Statistics” to myself, but there’s no response. Maybe if [Appraisal]’s level were higher, I could check. …Wait. [Appraisal]’s level… level as in… proficiency, maybe? Ah, is this a way for me to level [Appraisal] up?

Proficiency means the degree to which someone has mastered a skill, right? If [Appraisal] uses the same system as my resistance skills, then becoming more proficient at it will cause it to level up. Thus, if I use it a bunch, I should get better at it, and it will level up, right? Haha! I thought that since I bought it with skill points I’d have to spend more skill points to level it up, but I might have jumped to conclusions!

I immediately start spamming [Appraisal] on everything I can see. Tons of useless information like “wall” and “floor” starts pouring into my brain. Ah, this is a pretty terrible feeling, like I’m getting drunk on this deluge of information.

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Appraisal – LV 1] has become [Appraisal – LV 2]>

WORTH IT! Woohoo! It’s just one level, but it worked! This is a huge step forward. Trembling a little bit, I Appraise myself.

{Small Lesser Taratect – no name}

Ohhh! Now it’s even displaying my species! As before there’s not very much information at all, but it’s way better than the generic “spider” label I got out of it before.

But, hm. I’m not just “small”, but also “lesser”, huh… it’s like I’m inferior, or something. What a downer! I was so happy after I got [Appraisal] to finally level up, but, seriously, “lesser”? I didn’t have any high hopes or anything, but I certainly wasn’t expecting to be lesser! Ugh, well, since I was such a loser in my previous life, I guess it’s only natural that this would carry forward.

…Well then, time to Appraise everything else and get its level up even higher!

It’s not leveling up. I’ve used it on every single wall and crag and rock I can see, and its level hasn’t even gone up once. On top of that, where [Appraisal] had said “wall” before, now it says “labyrinth wall”, which is… not particularly helpful. That’s not the important part though: why isn’t this leveling up at all?!

Hmmmm. Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that maybe Appraising something multiple times doesn’t cause me to gain any proficiency. That’s probably the case, otherwise it would be way too easy for me to grind it out in the safety of my home. Just to be sure, I Appraise everything around me again, but, sure enough, the level doesn’t go up, almost like I’m not actually getting more proficient.

If that’s true, then in order to level [Appraisal], I’m going to need to Appraise things that are outside my home, huh… Didn’t I Appraise a bunch of monsters back when it was still level one? I must have gotten a bunch of proficiency back then.

Going outside, though… what a pain. I have such a nice home here, why should I force myself to go out? It’s way better to just stay here, living safely in my little web, although I guess I’m not going to get any skill ranks like this. I guess there’s pros and cons, but all of the danger that I might face outside is a pretty serious con.

Yeah. I’ve decided. Let’s stay here for a little bit longer and enjoy this lazy lifestyle until I’m sick of it. It’s not like the hand of God will come down upon me if I slack off a little, right?

Zzzzz. Yaaaaawn! Ahhh, I slept a ton! Did I oversleep? I’m feeling a little sluggish. Ahh, well, sleeping without a care in the world is the best!

How long did I sleep? Well, in my previous life I tended to sleep for about four hours a day. This, though, feels more like the time where I passed out from lack of sleep and slept through an entire day. It’s hard to tell, though… humans and spiders are very different creatures, so I don’t really have any way to figure out how long I was actually asleep. Yeahhh, I want a clock.

How long has it even been since I was born? I’ve got a vague sense that it’s been two, maybe three days, but since I’m in a dungeon it’s not like I can use daylight to tell.

I don’t even know what kind of calendar this world uses! Maybe one day isn’t actually twenty-four hours. On Earth, a year is the length of time it takes the planet to go around the sun, and a day is the time it takes for it to spin around its axis. Does this planet have exactly the same size and mass of Earth, and does it spin around its star at the same rate? It’s pretty unlikely. Ah, well, that’s just the explanation according to science, but in this magical parallel world, it’s not entirely impossible that we’re operating under entirely different laws of physics.

It’s not like I can really verify it either way, though. If I ever leave this place someday I might look into it, but for now I’ll just enjoy this lackadaisical lifestyle to the fullest. …Well, maybe instead of lazing about, I should try thinking about some of the unanswered questions I’ve collected until now.

First off, how did I die? Ah, hm, now that I think about it, I’ve basically just been assuming that I’m dead. I’ve been working under the assumption that I suddenly died and was reincarnated as a spider, but I don’t actually remember dying.

Hm?

The last thing I remember was being in Japanese Lit. Our teacher, Oka(TL.1), was in the middle of reading something aloud, right? I was drowsily nodding off, then suddenly there was a blast of blinding pain, then I don’t remember anything after that. If I did die, it was most likely because of all of that pain, but I don’t know what could have hurt so bad to begin with.

Well, the most likely theory is that I died from that mysterious pain, then I was reincarnated as a spider. If I didn’t die, I could… merely be possessing this spider while my real body is comatose in a hospital bed? Oh, and this one’s even crazier, but it could be that I’m a completely different person with a copy of my old memories, and my original self is still stuck in literature class.

Hmmm, I’m sure that if I kept thinking I could come up with even crazier ideas. If I wasn’t really me, how would I prove it? I could try saying incomprehensible things like “I am me, therefore I am me,” or whatever… It’s hard to believe, but reincarnation is the simplest explanation I’ve come up with, so I’m going to stick with that for now. “I think, therefore I am,” right? Let’s just assume that I’m me.

Next up, this body that I’m in. A spider’s body is surprisingly convenient! I’m not having any trouble moving around on my eight legs, and it’s actually way easier for me to move around as a spider than as a human. I can run along walls, and, absurdly, can even walk along the ceiling. I’ve got a few weaknesses, though. I don’t have hands, and I can’t look behind me without turning around.

Not having hands is a real pity. I could use my front legs to grip things, but it’s really a poor substitute. I won’t have anywhere near the same precision or finesse that I did with my human hands. Plus, my legs each end in a single sharp claw, and there’s no way something so dangerous could be used in place of a finger. It’s a shame, but I’ll be able to manage somehow.

There’s only one really big problem: I can’t see what’s behind me.

This is extremely dangerous. Spiders don’t have necks, so my head is attached directly to the rest of my body and can’t turn independently. I’ve got plenty of eyes, so my field of view is actually quite large even if I can’t turn my head, but I’ve got no way to see what’s behind me at all. I’m incredibly vulnerable to a surprise attack.

I might try using my threads as a countermeasure. Since I can’t see behind me, I’ll need to rely on some other sense, and if I can keep threads spread out behind me, I could use my sense of touch to tell if there’s something behind me. Ahh, well, easier said than done. I need more practice with my threads. I’m safely hiding in my home, so I don’t really need an early-warning system, but better safe than sorry.

Lastly, skills. There’s a million little things I want cleared up, but for now let’s just focus on the big one: what the heck is a “skill”?

If I’m using game logic, a skill is some kind of ability or technique. The kinds of actions you can perform are based on the skills you have, so as you acquire more skills you can do more things. However, I don’t know if this world treats skills the same way, so I shouldn’t make any assumptions.

My first priority is figuring out what skills I have, and what skills I can acquire.

I have three skills that I know about: [Appraisal – LV 1], [Acid Resistance – LV 2], and [Poison Resistance – LV 2]. I bought [Appraisal] with skill points. Those are a mystery too, huh. I spent all of my points on [Appraisal], but I have no idea how to get more. If this were a game, I’d get more when I leveled up, but I don’t know if this world even has things like levels. It could be that I’ll get more as time passes.

Worst-case scenario? Never getting any more. Skill points may just be something an individual is born with, and you only get to spend them once. Ahh, that would be shockingly awful.

I hope that’s not true!

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

Ahh, I’m stuffed. Maybe it’s because I was so hungry, or maybe it’s because I need nutrients to recover from all this damage I took, but I somehow managed to eat the entirety of a frog that was almost as big as my entire body. What, that sounds like it’s physically impossible? Hah hah hah, what are you saying? In this world where such mysterious phenomena as “skills” exist, you can’t say that!

In fact, eating all that has caused me to swell up like a balloon. Ahhh, if I were still a human, I’d be thinking of going on a diet, wouldn’t I… Come to think of it, though, when I was a human, I never really got fat even with my messed-up eating habits, so dieting isn’t really in my vocabulary anyway.

First things first, let’s repair the part of the net that the frog got tangled up in. Ugh, this is going to suck with my belly so heavy and swollen…

It was a struggle, but I’ve mended my web. No other monsters showed up while I was working, which is good! Hmm, wasn’t I also way too unprotected while I was eating the frog, too? There definitely might have been some monsters nearby that would have been lured by the smell of blood. I haven’t seen them in these smaller tunnels, but what about those six-legged wolves from before? Their sense of smell is probably great. I’m going to have to make sure to bring my prey back into my home before I start eating, next time.

Ahhh, I’ve finally taken care of the basic necessities of life: food and shelter. Hm? What about clothing? You’re telling a spider to put on clothing? Ha. I don’t think that’s really necessary, since the temperature in here is really kind of pleasant, and I’m covered in short hairs that keep me comfortable. Plus, I don’t even have anything to wear! I mean, I guess I could weave something out of my silk, but I don’t think that’s a very good use of my time. Even if I were to make something, how would I even put it on?

For the time being, can’t I just ignore clothing? Ohh, if I do that, I’ve got everything on lockdown without having to work for it at all! Well, no, I guess I did have to build my home in the first place, and fighting the frog was a ton of effort, so I guess you could say that I had to work for it, huh…

…Well, as long as nothing big happens, this environment seems pretty safe. There’s only really a couple things that could mess this up: someone coming through and busting down my webs, and a lack of prey coming through here and getting caught. The first one isn’t so bad, since if some brave warrior comes through here knocking down my webs I can just run away and rebuild elsewhere. The second one, hm… if prey keep coming around regularly, I’ll definitely be able to live my perfect shut-in lifestyle.

This is wonderful! I was definitely a huge shut-in in my previous life. When I had to go to school, I’d sit in the back of the class and avoid talking to anyone, and when the bell rang I went straight home and spent the rest of the day surfing the net and playing games. Dinner was either the kind you added hot water to and let sit for three minutes or the kind you threw in the microwave. Occasionally I’d grab something prepackaged from the convenience store, just for variety.

My parents both worked, and they came home super late, so we never really saw each other, let alone had any sort of conversation. I did the minimum amount of housework necessary to keep them off my back. To be frank, they were really just complete strangers that happened to live in the same house as me.

Thanks to that isolated lifestyle, I’ve always found communicating with other people to be fairly troublesome. …Well, maybe it wasn’t just my lifestyle, maybe I was just born with that kind of personality. But, thanks to all that, I didn’t have any friends. Even when I played MMOs, I rarely bothered chatting with other players.

As a result, my MMO characters tended to be the distant, silent type. I usually played a middle-aged bald dude, the kind of nice guy who wouldn’t say much and let his actions do the talking. Stats and skills all seemed useless, so I poured everything into raising my physical attack damage and my speed, ignoring everything else. Combat was always hit-and-run; “just try and lay a finger on me,” you know, that kind of thing. I dodged every attack that came at me, since my complete lack of defense meant that I would absolutely die if I got hit.

Umf. I don’t care that I might not ever see my parents or my classmates again, but I’m going to miss that old bald dude. In free-to-play MMOs, a free character able to beat the paid players is a pretty spectacular sight, and it’s a shame he’s just going to quietly disappear.

I had more attachment to my game characters than I did to my parents. I was a terrible human being, wasn’t I? Well, it’s the truth. Are those people even going to be sad that I died? Ah, whatever, it doesn’t matter either way. If I were in their shoes I don’t think I’d mourn. I’d probably think that putting together the funeral would be a pain!

If I were to say this to anybody else they’d probably get pissed, but, really, so what? I wasn’t bothering anyone, so it’s really none of your business. I was bothering my parents? Hah, no, I played the stock market in my free time, which gave me enough money to live off of. Once you get a feel for it and get used to taking the risks, you can make a pretty decent living off of it. So, I definitely wasn’t bothering my parents. I wasn’t bothering anyone, so I didn’t need to talk to anyone.

Ah, well, listen to me ramble on about things that don’t matter anymore. Let me summarize in a grand declaration:

Shut-in losers are the best!

—–

Author’s note – Please do not attempt this at home. This is a work of fiction, and the opinions of the characters are not those held by the author

My new home feels so safe and secure that I dozed off before I knew it, but when the threads I had connected to my leg started to vibrate, I woke up with a start. I was kind of hoping that when I woke up I’d find that all this had been a dream, but, nope, I’m still a spider in a cave. Oh well, there goes that.

I stretch out all eight of my legs as I stand up, and they rustle as they move. This is kind of gross, if I do say so myself.

Now that I’m awake, I turn my attention towards the vibrating thread. This one is attached to the lower web on the passageway to my left. It looks like, somehow, something’s gotten stuck in it!

My first prey.

I carefully approach until I can see what I’ve caught. Tangled in the net is something whose skin is a crazy pattern of rainbow-colored dots.

{Frog}

Yeah, this definitely looks like a frog. Sure, it’s about as big as I am, and it glitters like a rainbow, but it’s a frog. This is the first time I’ve agreed with what [Appraisal] has told me about a monster. …Well, excepting me, since it said I’m a spider.

A frog, huh… for my first catch, wasn’t this a bit too easy? We don’t eat anything like this in Japan, but I know there’s parts of the world where people eat strange stuff like this all the time. I even remember hearing that spiders taste like chicken. I was thinking just a little while ago that I’d have to eat really disgusting food to survive, but this isn’t actually so bad! If I can’t bring myself to eat this, I’m probably never going to be able to eat anything else in this dungeon.

There’s a slight problem, though. This frog is probably poisonous, hmm… well, no, with this vibrant color pattern, it’s almost certainly poisonous. What should I do…

As I casually sit here and ponder, the frog who has been so desperately struggling against my webs launches its counterattack! It vomits up a stream of brightly-colored, poisonous-looking liquid, directly at me! Ahhh! I was too busy thinking about how to kill it that I didn’t notice! It’s far too late to dodge! I get covered by the noxious fluid.

Aaaargh!

Wh, what is this?! Ouch! Ouch! Is this venom? It’s venom! I’m covered in venom!

Oh no, it’s shooting again! Wait, wait, I’m not read— OW! I’m hit again! This pain is no joke! Retreat! Retreeeeat! I run out of the frog’s range, almost tripping over my own legs.

Whoa. This really hurts. Is this what it feels like to get splashed by acid? It’s melting my body, isn’t it? I don’t have a mirror, so I can’t see for certain, but this is making me pretty nervous.

Shit. I messed that up. I forgot that the thing I had caught was a monster, and I got careless. “A rat is the most dangerous when it’s cornered,” isn’t it? A frog being hunted by a snake isn’t going to just let itself be eaten.

Ahhh, well, this really hurts, but it doesn’t feel like I’m going to die. The venom mostly just hit my left side. My left eye got hit and doesn’t seem to be working that well anymore, so there’s a chunk missing from my field of view. …huh? My left eye got hit, but there’s only a little bit missing from my field of view…? Ah, I know! Since I’m a spider, I’ve got eight eyes, right? Yeah, probably. This is good to know.

Well, it doesn’t matter for now. This pain isn’t really going away.

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Acquired skill [Acid Resistance – LV 1]>

Whuh? The pain suddenly lessens a bit. The voice said “skill”… does this mean that I can gain skills without spending points? Why the hell did I spend a hundred points on [Appraisal]?! …ugh, let’s not think about this too hard.

Anyhow, it looks like I’ve acquired a skill that reduces acid damage. If I had to guess, I’d say I got it from taking that frog’s attack. The requirements must be a bit higher than that, though, because I didn’t get it immediately after getting hit. The likely answer is that, since the acid stuck to me, I kept taking damage until I met the “proficiency requirements” that voice mentioned. Right?

Let’s think about this later. I’ve picked up some resistance, and the pain has gone down a bit. I think I’m about ready to go face that frog again. After all, it’s really pissing me off. It’s only food! How dare it attack me! Unforgivable! I have decided. I don’t care if it’s poisonous or not, I am going to eat that thing!

With that, it’s time to charge in! If I don’t get careless, this will be easy: it’s already my prey, caught helplessly in my trap!

The frog fires a third shot at me. Heh, don’t be so predictable, you’re making this too easy! I dodge past the stream of acid as I approach, and let loose my own attack. Take this, frog, my special technique!

CRUNCH!

How do you like my bite, frog? Ohohoho, don’t think this is any ordinary bite! I am a spider! My fangs are covered in deadly venom! (I figured this out when I realized I could make silk.) Ohohohooo, feel my venom coursing through your veins and dieeee!

Splash!

HAAAARGH!

You spit acid at me as I’m biting you?! Ow! Ow! Even with the resistance, this still really hurts! Ow!

My fangs open accidentally as I reel back.

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Poison Resistance – LV 1] has become [Poison Resistance – LV 2]>

Ahhh, is that so?

Wait, not now, announcer lady! This frog has, not once, not twice, but THREE times covered me with its filthy venom! This is unforgivable! Even though I had no intention of sparing you in the first place, this is absolutely unforgivable!

I attack once again, empowered by my own fury. The frog writhes in agony. Ahaha! Suffer! Suffeeeer! I bite it, gleefully, again and again. The frog thrashes about in pain, but in time its movements grow weak and feeble, then finally stop.

Heh. I finally defeated you. If this was my first hunt, I can tell things are only going to get tougher from here. But, for now, I did it! Yes! Time to eat!

Munch, munch, slurp, slurp. Umf, this is bitter. Painful, too. Is this bitterness from the poison? The pain’s from the acid, right? Well, I’ve got some resistance now, so this isn’t going to kill me. I can bear with it, but, ugh, this isn’t tasty at all.

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill, [Acid Resistance – LV 1] has become [Acid Resistance – LV 2]>

This meat may be disgusting, but this skill rank sure is sweet.

---

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

This is a world where the Hero and the Demon Lord have fought countless battles since time immemorial.

There has always been, and shall always be, a Demon Lord, a being of such power that its foul reign is used to mark an age. Even if one is struck down, another powerful demon will invariably rise to take its place, the demonic ruler of a new era. This is the immutable rule of this world: although the demons’ onslaught can be stopped temporarily, they can never be truly defeated.

There have been many such Demon Lords, and each has been different from the last. One had such strength that it could split the earth with its mighty fists, leaving new valleys in its wake. Another had complete mastery over the darkest of magics, capable of weaving over a thousand spells in concert. What does not differ between Demon Lords, however, is their insurmountable strength and their unrelenting aggression towards the tribes of man.

The Hero is mankind’s only hope in the fight against the demons. So as there is always another Demon Lord, a new Hero is anointed as well when the previous one is slain. As such, the battle between humanity and the demons shifts back and forth, unceasing, even to this day. Such is the fate of this world.

An especially powerful Hero and Demon Lord fought each other, once, and were so evenly matched that they were forced to bring their full abilities to bear. They were both masters of the rare and powerful [Dimensional Magic], which could warp space and time with godly power. Their great spells crashed against each other, causing the world to scream under the stress, until it erupted in a blast that obliterated both the Hero and the Demon Lord.

The aftershock tore its way through space and time until it reached another dimension. In this dimension, on a planet called Earth, in a nation named Japan, it wreaked havoc on a particular high school classroom. All twenty-six students and their teacher were killed instantly by the violent detonation. The media called it the “mystery explosion”, and it was investigated thoroughly, but none of the dead would ever find out what happened.

Even after they had been reborn into their next life, they wouldn’t ever find out what happened.

After all, their spirits had been torn from their own world by the dimensional riptide and drawn back into the world where the Hero and Demon King had fought. They were scattered across the land, and reborn into this new world.

This is the story of one of those souls.

—–

Aaargh!

I try to let out a scream, but nothing comes out. What’s wrong with my voice? Did I get hurt so badly that I can’t even scream?!

…Okay, okay, calm down, get a grip, think. What happened? I remember that I was in the middle of Japanese Lit, then suddenly everything went white with agony. Sure, I felt like I was going to die back then, but strangely enough I’m not hurting at all right now. All I can see is pitch blackness though, so I have no idea where I am.

…Come to think of it, I can’t really feel anything either. It’s almost like my body is wrapped in something that’s making it impossible for me to move.

Is… is this what it’s like to be in a coma? Oh my god. I don’t want to believe it, but it seems very, very much like this is the case. I don’t really know what happened, but now I’m in a coma.

Nai wa. I can think, I’m conscious, but I can’t move my body, can’t see, can’t hear, and can’t even smell anything. Am I stuck like this? I’m going to go crazy if I’m stuck like this. Nai wa, Nai wa.

Wait. What’s that? I think I can hear something rustling. Okay, my ears work, good, good. That’s a relief… except not, because I still can’t move! If hearing is all that I can do then it’s almost worse! I’m still trapped inside my own head!

Whack!

Ow! What? What?! Did something hit me? Wait! Pain! If I can feel pain, my sense of touch must be working! Okay, okay, calm down, get a grip. Breathe in, breathe out, listen to my body, figure out what else I’ve got. Maybe I jumped to the wrong conclusion with the “coma” thing.

I know I was just thinking that it felt like I was wrapped in something, so maybe I really am? Ha! I am! I’m all tied up! Ahaha!

This isn’t really a laughing matter, though. I still have no idea what is happening. Have I been stuffed in a sack? Am I being kidnapped?

Wait, who the hell would want to kidnap a shut-in loser like me?

Anyhow. I should try to escape. I brace myself as best as I can and push hard against my bonds.

Crack!

Ah! Something broke! This doesn’t really feel like a sack. What the hell is it? It’s got this strange texture, kind of like it’s both soft and brittle at the same time. Well, anyhow, I broke it, so I can clearly make it out just fine! Onward, to my escape!

Snap!

It’s open, it’s open! I crawl out, headfirst, into the open air… and come face to face with a swarm of giant spiders.

Ah. Aaah. AAAAAH?! What’s with this army of giant spiders?! Every single one of them is as big as me! They’re crawling out of some sort of egg-like things, one by one! This explains the noise! This explains that rustling noise!

I take a step back, involuntarily. My foot hits something and I turn to look at it. Is this… another egg? Isn’t this where I just came from, though? Did I just crawl out of one of these eggs? It’s not my imagination, right? This is the same kind of egg as the other ones that are spewing out that spider army, right? It certainly looks like it!

I try to look down at myself, just to see what I look like, but I can’t turn my head for some reason. I try to turn my whole body, and my leg comes into view.

…It’s a spider’s leg.

AAAAAAAAAAH! CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN! Is this really… is this really what I think it is? Is this one of those reincarnated-as-an-RPG-monster stories that are currently in vogue on the internet? So! Show yourself, O godlike being who has whisked me to this strange world! Bestow upon me your favor so that I may right what has been wronged!

…Okay, no god appeared, maybe this isn’t a novel. Not good, not good. Well, I guess I’ve read novels where there isn’t some sort of god or fairy waiting for the hero upon her awakening, but then again in those it’s usually the boy that gets to be the hero and the girl winds up as a haughty princess-type and that doesn’t look like it’s the case either. Great!

I take another quick look at myself. Arranged around me, I can see thin, wiry spider legs. I try to lift one up, and it moves exactly as I will it. These are my legs, all right.

Umf.

Well, this was fun, but I guess I should face reality: this is not a dream.

Somehow, I’ve been reborn as a spider.

Original Translation: APM
Editing: Legit-rikk
Additional thanks goes out to Kubor. Join our discord

---

A flawless victory against the spider army! 

While I’m on this thought, my level rose by one again. Another one huh? First the Arch gave me 4, then one from all the other rabble. Nai wa.

Well, I only won against the Arch easily because of the unexpectedly good matchup. Normally it would be way stronger than me.

In fact, its status surpasses the Earth dragons, and in a clash between those two, I could not tell you who  would be stronger. Kaguna might barely win, because of their compability, but Geere probably couldn’t  win against the Arch. Even in Kaguna’s case there is still no guaranteed win. 

No matter. A win is a win. And winning is all that matters, not how we do it!

But what am I supposed to do with so much food? A lot of them were torn to shreds by Black World, but  there are still tons of corpses left. The giant body of the Arch alone would be a considerable amount, but  will I really be able to eat all of that? It’s already going to be a big effort to teleport them all to my home.

Suddenly, my spidey senses are tingling. (Actually just “Danger perception”).

My whole body begins to shiver. 

I remember this feeling.  
How could I ever forget it?  
There’s no way I would ever forget it. 

It was the first time since reincarnating as a Spider, that I sensed genuine fear.  
It was the first time since reincarnating as a Spider, that I recognized such a Symbol of Death.
I turn around slowly.

So, the Dragon finally makes his appearance. His Majesty himself. Long time no see, huh? My trauma. 
This is bad. After seeing his status again, I can only affirm that. Yikes. He not only has the best points of Kaguna and Geere, but even more than them. There are truly no gaps.

More defense and defensive skills than Kaguna. 
More speed and Speed skills than Geere. 
Furthermore, more magical Power than either of them. 
Worst of all, he even uses [Shadow magic]. That’s my means of attack. 
That in addition, he also possesses [Dark Resistance], That’s my means of attack!

The perfect all-rounder. Offense, Defense, he’s got it all. He’s even strong against precise hits, as he has no weak spots to hit. There won’t ever be a bad matchup for him. I may not like it, but this is what peak monster performance looks like. 

Haha, I can’t help but laugh when faced with such might.

Thank God,  
That at that time, the fear I felt was justified; 
That at that time, the fear I felt was right.  
I will admit it.
You truly are strong, Earth Dragon Alaba. 
So strong, that even after all my growth, I’ll still have a hard time with you. 
Rather, I need to prepare for defeat, faced with such a mighty Enemy.

I am scared. 
Scared, and yet happy. 
Yes, I am happy. 
That the me of now, has grown to the point where I can fight an opponent of which I could only tremble and hide from back then. 

Earth Dragon Alaba.

Are you prepared? 
Because I am. 

You noticed I was still alive back then, didn’t you? You noticed, and dismissed me as an insignificant little  thing, right!? 

Well I am going to make you regret that arrogance.

Thank you,for teaching me to fear death. It’s the reason why I could be right here, right now. I ran. I ran. I ran from you. And the place I finally escaped to, is where I am now. So, I am grateful.

So now you will die. 

The existence that instilled fear in me for the first time. I will bury you with my own hands. And by doing  that, I will finally conquer my fear of you. 

I won’t run away anymore.  

Let’s end this long, far too long, life of running away.
Now, lets get started.

MUHAHAHA! How do you like them fiery apples? Must be hard for a Taratect with a weakness to fire here in the middle layer, right? Granted, this heat is also difficult for me, but it should be much more intensive for that Arch.

Below us is a sure-death sea of lava to fall into. My size is small, so I can land on the islands that peak out here and there. But the Arch is around 15 meters around, and there aren’t any big enough Islands around for such a fatty.

The good thing is, the heat damages us both just by being here. While I raised my resistance to fire, it was living a life of cool comfort. Well, [HP Rapid Recovery] weakens that effect, but it’s effectively neutralized now.

At the same time, as it tries to support its enormous mass via [Spatial Maneuvering], it has to fight me in a fiery environment that it’s weak to. Heh heh heh, And with that, checkmate Taratect. Die, while regretting your stupidity in defying me, when you were just a mere Spider!

For the first strike: [Repellent Evil Eye] go! This is the evolved form of [Heavy Evil Eye], and instead of just pulling down, it can generate a pulling force in every direction. Moreover, it also gives you the opposite power to repel. When you deploy it all around yourself, you can even make a pseudo-barrier. However, as it also keeps air out, I cannot keep it up for a long time. But even though it evolved and gave me a lot of new functions, it still works best when it applies downward force. Hence, I continue to crush the Arch as hard as I can. So not only does it have to support its heavy body in the air, but now it does have to fight against the added gravity too!

Don’t worry, you can let go now. You will only die after all. Now go on, fall quickly, and become my tasty exp!

The arch makes full use of [Spatial Maneuver] and somehow manages to hang on. It produces a thread aimed towards the ceiling. Can you just drop it already!? Like hell I’m going to let you do that.

[Black Magic] Black Bullet activate! [Black Magic] is the higher ranking magic of [Dark Magic], but still a rank below [Abyss Magic]. Even though it is inferior to [Abyss Magic] in power, it’s much easier to use for single target attacks. Not only does it apply a black attribute attack, with an added shock component, on impact it even does explosion damage to the opponent.

By the way, it’s a fairly high level magic, and is much more powerful than it looks. The Black Bullet lands straight on the abdomen of the arch and the shock causes the thread to fly in a different direction. Well then, let’s get started, shall we? Mercilessly I continue to fire more Darkness Bullets.

Will we drop first? Or will I lose my HP first? What is it going to be?

The Arch held on. It really held on. It gave its best to endure my attacks, used [Healing Magic] on itself, and even acquired [Dark Resistance]. It surely had some impressive willpower, so I’m going to praise you for that. But now it’s time for you to die

I use a new Magic called “Black Spear” that I acquired by raising my [Black Magic] via continuous use. As the Spear version of Black Bullet, it carries a piercing attribute instead. The Black Spear rips through the Arch’s battered body! At long last the chunky spider, whose status exceeded that of an earth dragon, has been relieved of its life.

I rise 4 levels at once and throw away my molt. Yeah, yeah, I know. Collect the corpse prior to crashing. I gather up the remains in my Spatial Storage then use Long-Distance Teleport to put it in my home in the Upper Layer, near the middle entrance. I would wrap it up, literally and physically, right now; but there are still things like the Greater Taratects to take care of, so I teleport again. It’s a treat for later. Well, being poisonous ensures it’s most definitely not going to be a tasty treat.

I return to the pit I just left behind, and just as expected, the army including the Greater Taratects is still there. If I don’t take care of these things they are going to annoy me a lot later. I mean, they are eating the bee corpse I hunted myself right now! The audacity! That’s mine you know! Do you know who you are stealing from!?

Then I realized that the small Taratects were in the middle of fighting the bees. As expected, the Greaters will win against the bees, so a lot of bees have been defeated already. I am sorry to interrupt that fierce melee, but mind if I join in?

No? That’s a shame, but I think I’ll still participate.

With the Arch gone now, the 3 Greaters that remain are no longer a challenge for me. Even though I was afraid of the Arch’s high status, the only possible way for the army to defeat me was to distract me with the small fry around me, while the Arch landed critical hits.

But now without the Arch round, it’s going to be hard to even inflict damage to me. So, let’s get cracking. This might be a pain in the ass, so I’m going to dispose of them all at once with ranged magic. Without the Arch, and them being in a scuffle with the bees, I’m safe to prepare magic.

Normally, with [Parallel Will], I could use ranged magic while fighting, but when I’m on my own, I can’t use magic as difficult as that while fighting at the same time. Ah well, I guess when I concentrate, the time spent is really small, still it’s hard to do on my own while moving!

Now, [Black Magic] Black World activate! From the ground, A torrent of black… magic shadow gushes out forcefully. If someone touched that stuff, they’d receive a huge amount of damage; and while it may not be as powerful as [Abyss Magic] Hells Gate, it still has reasonably high range and power.

As the darkness recedes, the small ones were all wiped out. Only a few larger Taratects, plus some of the poison ones, survive. The Greaters did survive, as one would expect, but none of them are unhurt. I simply hurl Black Bullets and Spears on the ones that survived, one by one. Thus, the Army of Spiders got destroyed rather swiftly.